Lubricant



UNITED "FATES PATENT OFFICE LUBRICANT Hugh S. Cooper, Shaker Heights, and Vivian R. Damerell, Cleveland, Ohio, assignors to Cooper lfrlgliliicts, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation o No Drawing. Application May 3, 1934, Serial No. 723,794

2 Claims. (Cl. 87-9) The present invention relates to lubricants, and tends to run off. It also provides lubrication more particularly to solid materials which may be during periods of emergency when for any reason added to oils and greases to improve their lubrlthe oil or grease fails, and after periods of shutcating properties, and also to oils and greases so down when the oil film is often broken. In the 5 treated. case of a motor vehicle for example it is esti- 5 An object of the present invention is the promated that about 75% ofthe wear on the cylinder vision of a novel solid material which may be walls of the motor takes place when the motor added to oils and greases to improve their lubriis first started after a period of idleness and before eating properties. the oil film is reestablished. A solid lubricant Another object of the invention is the provision tends to remain in place and prevent this wear. 10 of a novel solid material which when added to Graphite has heretofore found a limited use oils and greases increases the film strength thereas a solid lubricant but it is subject to serious of, coats the rubbing or bearing surfaces and disadvantages. Pure graphite is very diflicult to fills up the minute irregularities therein, and obtain. Native graphite nearly always contains acts as a solid lubricant during periods when the some silica and other materials which are highly ll oil or grease film breaks. abrasive, and artificial graphite normally also Another object of the present invention is the contains highly abrasive impurities, although of provision of a novel lubricant comprising a matea different character. To be useful as a solid rial which separates naturally and very easily lubricant a material must be in the form of small into plates between which there is very little particles preferably of colloidal dimensions, and friction along the cleavage planes, thereby refree from abrasives. Most of the substances of ducing the friction between the rubbing or bearthe present invention can be made under coning surfaces. trolled conditions from readily available mate- Another object of the invention is the prorials of high purity, and can consequently be vision of a novel lubricant comprising a solid produced free from abrasives. Also they can be as material preferably of colloidal dimensions which produced at relatively low temperatures which fills up the minute irregularities in the rubbing favor the formation of small particles. The reor bearing surfaces thereby increasing the effecduction of the resulting products to the colloidal tive area of the surfaces in contact, and destate is therefore very much easier. creasing the wear and pressure per'unit of When a beam of X-rays is suitably passed surface. through a solid or powdered crystal, it is broken Another object of the invention is the provi-' up into a pattern which is peculiar to, and charsion of a novel lubricant comprising a solid mateacteristic of, the substance composing the crystal. rial preferably of colloidal dimensions which On theoretical grounds it is possible to infer from coats the rubbing or bearing surfaces and acts the nature of the pattern formed the relative as a lubricant during emergency periods when location and spacing of the atoms of the crystal the oil or grease film breaks, as after a long substance, and calculate the actual distances beshut-down. tween atomic centers. With respect to their Another object of the invention is the proviatomic arrangement as disclosed by X-ray analysion of a novel lubricant comprising solid matesis, all substances may be divided into two 40 rial preferably of colloidal dimensions which inclasses. creases the film strength of the lubricant thereby One of these classes is the so-called layer increasing the load that may be carried per unit or plate" class, the substances of which crystalof area and preventing the oil or grease film from lize in definite layers. They are characterized readily breaking during periods of shut-down. by the fact that they are plate forming, that 45 A small amount of a solid lubricant added to is they separate very easily along certain planes oils or greases increases their lubricating propof cleavage all of which, within the same crystal, erties, and fills up the small irregularities present are parallel. X-ray spectroscopy shows that the in the rubbing or bearing surfaces, thereby inatoms of these substances are arranged in plates creasing the effective area of contact and deparallel to the planes of cleavage, and that the creasing the pressure and wear on the surfaces. principal valences or inter-atomic forces are It also builds up the lubricated surfaces, replacchiefly satisfied within a plate,,while only weak ing the loss due to abrasion, prevents progressive secondary forces act between plates. The atoms abrasion, and provides lubricant at high temperawithin a plate are relatively close together and tures when the oil or grease becomes thin and the configuration thereof follows some regular ll geometric figure which usually produces a rigid interlocking structure. In a plane normal to the plane of cleavage the atoms are relatively far apart, possibly two or three times as far apart as they are within a plate, and while the arrangement within these planes is also regular, it is characterized by wide empty lanes which are several times as wide as the inter-atomic distances within a plate. These inter-plate lanes" form the planes of cleavage.

In certain substances these elementary plates or layers may be only one atom thick. Such seems to be the case with boron nitride, in which the atoms within a plate are arranged in hexagons which give a rigid inter-locking construction, with atoms of boron and nitrogen alternating at the corners of a hexagon. In a direction at right angles to a plate the atoms are arranged in parallelograms, with greater inter-atomic distances than within a plate.

Another example of layer or plate structure is molybdenum sulphide. In this substance a plate seems to be three atoms thick, consisting of a layer of sulphur atoms, then one of molybdenum atoms, then another of sulphur. Here the unlike atoms are all within a plate while adjacent plates present to each other faces of like atoms only. Also the inter-atomic distances within a plate are considerably less than those between the nearest atoms in adjacent plates.. Other examples of substances that crystallize in plates or layers are tungsten sulphide, titanium sulphide, stannic sulphide, zirconium selenide, titanium telluride, lead iodide, and cadmium iodide.

We have discovered that the whole class of "plate forming" chemical compounds, characterized in that they crystallize in plates or layers, when reduced to small particles preferably of colloidal dimensions, make excellent solid 1ubri-- cants, since they then consist of minute plates whose sides are atomically smooth, and apparently slide over each other with negligible friction. While the foregoing considerations offer what appears to be a logical reason why these substances make good solid lubricants, we do not wish to be bound by this explanation, because the fact remains that according to our discovery these substances do make good solid lubricants, and this is true irrespective of the mechanism that may cause it.

Tests on a Timkin lubricant tester with a standard motor car lubricating oil (S. A. E., viscosity 30) showed a loss of .8 milligram in the weight of the block and cylinder due to abrasion, when operated with 8 pounds on the lever and for 6 hours. The same test with the same oil, to which .2% of colloidal boron nitride was added gave a loss of .4 milligram. A similar test with .2% molybdenum sulphide showed a loss of only .2 milligram. In the case of the molybdenum sulphide the revolving cylinder was coated with a smooth black coating. The loss of weight of the block was actually .3 milligram, while the cylinder gained .1 milligram, making the net loss .2

milligram as noted before. Examination of the cylinder surface under a high power microscope showed it to be much smoother than originally, probably because of the ingra ned molybdenum sulphide.

Some of the substances oi the present invention, particularly the sulphides, selenides and tellurides, also increase, in varying degree, the film strength of the oil or grease to which they are added. For example, one percent molybdenum sulphide by weight increased the film strength of the same standard motor car lubricating oil (s. A. E. viscosity so) until loads as high as 80 pounds on the lever arm or the Timken tester were required to break the oil film. This was equivalent to about 40,000 pounds per square inch load on the bearing surface. Without molybdenum sulphide the oil film broke at only 10 pounds on the lever.

Many of the substances of the present invention also have great chemical stability; consequently they do not break up or alter by chemical reaction, or cause corrosion at the temperatures and under the conditions likely to be found in machinery, as in internal combustion engines for example. In the preferred embodiments of the invention the substances are added to mineral oils and greases in the proportion of approximately .05% to by weight, but may be added to vegetable oils or other carriers. Boron nitride being white and lustrous, produces a very pleasing and clean looking lubricant when added to oil, and is particularly adapted to use on textile and food handling machinery. Stannic sulphide being yellow, also produces a lubricant of pleasing appearance and does not materially discolor ordinary light oil when added thereto as does molybdenum sulphide which is black.

From the foregoing description of the invention it will be apparent that not only has a. new class of lubricants been'produced, but also lubricating properties have been discovered in an entire class of substances which may be added to oils and greases to improve their lubricating qualities.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described, we do not intend to be limited to the specific compounds and lubricants mentioned, but it is our intention to cover any and all variations. adaptations or uses thereof as come within the knowledge and customary practice in the art to which the invention appervtains, and we particularly point out and claim as our invention the following:

We claim:

1. A lubricant comprising a lubricating oil or grease and a minor percentage oi synthetic molybdenum sulphide substantially free from abrasive material.

2. A lubricant comprising a lubricating oil or grease and synthetic molybdenum sulphide to the extent of .05% to 5% of the whole by weight.

HUGH s. COOPER.

VIVIAN R. DAMERELL. 

